Gone Medieval…

So the Camlann Medieval Village turned out to be pretty cool. The setting is the same month and day, but set in 1376, in England. The buildings and settings are as authentic as possible (but because of things like fire codes and the ADA, they must accommodate….).

This was the innkeeper, working on a new building (actually made more authentically than others there), using the wattle and daub technique. The wattle being the twigs, the daub being a mixture of clay and straw. Unfortunately for us, not much different in our old house of lath and plaster after 600 years…but on the bright side, wattle and daub apparently goes back to the Neolithic.

Here’s MikaSam trying on some protective headgear at the blacksmith’s.

Oddly enough, this turned out to be their favorite part. One of the sheep was very loud when it was bleeting, and at one point scare Joshua so much he jumped, which made me jump (he was in the backpack), and then he cried, whereas I did not.

Anyway, we also had lunch at the Bors Hede Inne, which consisted of a Trencher, English Cheeses, Fruit, and a salted pork/vegetable pottage. The kids and JoAnn drank muste (a spiced cider) and I tried a portion of Burgundy wine. (And as an aside, I think this very wine may be why in the Bible Paul advised Timothy to drink a little wine…because oh my oh my…it was strong. Not strong alcohol-wise, but taste-wise. Not full-flavored, but something well beyond that).

There were a couple cheeses that we had to make sure we got the names of they were so yummy. I thought the pottage was also very good, but the kids didn’t agree so much. They did like the grapes, which were very familiar to them, as well as the muste.

And we also shared a CRUSTADE LOMBARD, which is a kind of baked fruit custard. Now that’s worth going back to the Middle Ages for! (We’ll be trying to replicate at some point).

So the Camlann Medieval Village turned out to be pretty cool. The setting is the same month and day, but set in 1376, in England. The buildings and settings are as authentic as possible (but because of things like fire codes and the ADA, they must accommodate….). This was the innkeeper, working on a new…